So far, my experience with Amazon's kindle is reading a book on the kindle ipad app. But since Amazon unveiled their new Kindle devices, I went and ordered their entry level device simply called Kindle. I got it yesterday, and while the directional pad is somewhat frustrating, the reading experience is great! I downloaded a sample of the new Stephenson book Reamde
(no that's not a misspelling) and I'm totally hooked.

I can see why people who have Kindles totally love them. When people read a satisfying book, the transfer some of that good feeling to the device they use to read it. It's not a perfect device by a long shot, the $80 one does not have a touch screen, and typing in using the directional pad is not ideal. I think I sometimes see some faint ghosting of the previous page when I turn the page. I'd like for it to have better contrast. But all those issues just melt away when you're deeply engrossed in a good story, and by the time you're done reading, you associate that warm fuzzy feeling with your Kindle.

As for me, I think the weight of the Kindle is going to be quite helpful for reading really long novels or long plane trips. I'm sure I'm gonna be spending some quality reading time as Seattle's rainy season commences.

The Space Needle is the structure that people associate with Seattle, and so every time friends from out of town come, we inevitably go there.

This time I begged off actually going up to the top. It's now $18 for general admission, yikes! I stayed down and sketched this iconic Seattle landmark instead. I should go down to Seattle Center a few more times, to get a more accurate depiction.

Rob and August brought me and a bunch of others camping at Diablo Lake in the North Cascades. It was my first time to go camping in the "woods". The campsite had real toilets and running water, so it wasn't exactly roughing it, hehe.

Sleeping on the ground was uncomfortable enough, however, that I woke up early. And got to sketch the scenery as the sun rose from behind the mountains.